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There was that, Dakota thought Froood
He shook his head “I can’t figure out where I rong All I wanted was to get thee Three more months They only needed to stay in school three more months But could they do that? No They even sentme where they were—like I’d be happy for them”
She reached for the files on her desk “What are their names?”
“Sasha and Stephen” His expression cleared “Is there so you can do to help?”
“I don’t know As I said, I’ the town The producers came to us with the reality show idea Believefor this kind of publicity We wanted to say no, but were concerned they would go ahead and do it anyway This e’re involved and hope to have some kind of control over the outcome”
She glanced at him and smiled “Or at least the illusion of control”
“Trust me It’s not all it’s cracked up to be”
“I’ that All the potential contestants were vetted thoroughly, background checks on everyone We insisted on that”
“Trying to avoid the truly insane?”
“Yes, and criminals Reality television puts a lot of pressure on people”
“How did the TV people hear about Fool’s Gold if the toasn’t courting them?” he asked
“It was just plain bad luck A year ago a grad student writing her thesis on hue in town The hows and whys beca attention to her work, she shopped her thesis around various media outlets, where the part about Fool’s Gold was picked up”
He frowned “I think I reuys co in from all over?”
“Unfortunately Most of the reports made us sound like a town of desperate spinsters, which isn’t true at all A feeeks later, Hollywood ca in the form of the reality show”
She flipped through the stack of applications of those who had made it to final selection When she saw Sasha Andersson’s picture, she winced “Identical twins?” she asked
“Yes, why?”
She pulled out Sasha’s application and passed it to Finn “He’s adorable” The head shot showed a happy, ser version of Finn “If he has a personality et on the show What’s not to like? Plus, if there are two of them…” She set down the folder “Let me put it another way If you were the producer, would you want them on the show?”
Finn dropped the paper The wo, funny and young enough to believe they were is
“I’ to let them ruin their lives,” he said flatly
“The show is ten weeks of filentle and hinted at coh—had he been looking for that kind of thing All he cared about right noas getting his brothers back to college
“You think they’ll want to go back after all this?” he demanded
“I don’t know Have you asked them?”
“No” To date he’d only lectured and issued orders—both of which his brothers had ignored
“Did they say why they wanted to be on this show?”
“Not specifically,” he ad They wanted to be out of Alaska and away fro time
“Have they done this sort of thing before? Run off against your wishes, given up on school?”
“No That’s what I don’t get They’re so close to being finished Why couldn’t they suck it up for oneto do
Until now, Sasha and Stephen hadn’t given hi too fast, a few parties with friends and plenty of girls He’d sweated bullets waiting to hear one of his brothers had gotten a girl pregnant But so far that hadn’t happened Maybe his thousands of lectures about using birth control had gotten through So thee for a reality show had stunned hiured they would at least finish school
“They sound like great kids,” Dakota said “Maybe you should trust them”
“Maybe I should tie them up and throw them in the back of a plane headed for Alaska”
“You wouldn’t like jail”
“They’d have to catch ain “Thanks for your time”
“I’m sorry I can’t help”
“Me, too”
She rose and circled the table so she was standing in front of hi, set it free”
He stared into her dark eyes They were an interesting contrast to her wavy blond hair “If it coed a smile “No, thanks I fall into the ‘if it doesn’t, hunt it down and shoot it’ category”
“Should I warn your brothers?”
“They already know”
“Sometimes you have to let people mess up”
“This is too important,” he told her “It’s their future”
“The key word being theirs, not yours Whatever happens here isn’t unrecoverable”
“You don’t know that”
She looked as if she wanted to argue more She wasn’t a yeller, and he appreciated that Her points ell thought out But there was no way she could change hishis brothers out of Fool’s Gold and back to college, where they belonged
“Thanks for your time,” he told her
“You’re welcome I hope the three of you can come to terms” One corner of her mouth twitched “Please remember we have a very efficient police force in town Chief Barns doesn’t take kindly to people breaking the law”
“I appreciate the warning”
Finn walked out of the s or whatever they called it was due to start in two days Which gave hiht hours to come up with a plan to either convince his brothers to return to Alaska on their own or physically force them to do what he wanted
“I OWE YOU,” Marsha Tilson said over lunch
Dakota picked up a French fry “Yes, you do I’hly trained professional”
“So Geoff doesn’t appreciate?” Marsha, the town’s sixty-so with amusement
“He does not I have a PhD,” Dakota muttered “I should make him call me doctor”
“From what I know of Geoff, I’m not sure that would help”
Dakota bit into her fry She hated to admit it, but Mayor Marsha had a point Geoff was the producer of the reality show that had invaded the town—True Love or Fool’s Gold After rando twenty people into couples, the pairs would be sent on romantic dates, which would be filmed, edited and then shown on television with a one-week delay America would vote off the couple least likely to make it